I think that’s a reasonable way of reading their relationship.
The Beast of Darkness is definitely pretty overt about suggesting that Griffith is Guts’ first choice, calling him his “true light” while Casca gets grouped in with the RPG group as “warm lights,” as well as suggesting that Griffith is more “precious” to him than Casca.
And ofc I definitely agree that Griffith is Guts’ number one choice. Casca I’m less sure about, I think she was more torn between them and maybe ended up prioritizing Guts by the end, when she told him to leave to pursue his dream. But that’s p ambiguous.
My own opinion on Guts and Casca’s feelings for each other is that they’re… complicated lol, but imo genuine romantic love doesn’t really enter into it. I don’t enjoy their relationship so I’m biased ofc, but I do think Miura was like, conscientious about portraying their relationship as a more low-key realistic hookup between friends, rather than burgeoning true love, and motivated by a number of complex feelings and factors other than straightforward romance.
Like both rebounding from Griffith, “licking wounds” and comforting each other after experiencing some extreme self-destructive feelings, genuinely liking each other as friends by now, the fact that Guts saved Casca and Casca feels like she owes him the same way she wanted to be Griffith’s sword after he saved her (Casca pointing out Guts’ scars from the 100 man fight when he saved her then, and asking for a wound in return), Judeau’s heavy-handed manipulations pushing them together, Guts inviting Casca along for sex while prioritizing his dream (”I don’t know whether you’ll get in the way of what I want to do or the opposite”), Guts letting Casca comfort him the way Griffith didn’t, etc.
Additionally I think that their hookup serves as a distraction for Guts, a way to continue repressing the realization that he fucked up when he left for as long as possible because accepting that he ruined everything because he was wrong about Griffith’s feelings is… not easy lol, and this is shown in how he invites her along and still intends to leave the Hawks again, rather than rethinking things based on new information and deciding to stay this time. It takes him like four days to finally accept that he shouldn’t’ve left.
And post-Eclipse I think Guts sticks with Casca in part because of what the Beast of Darkness suggests, that she’s a reminder of the pain Griffith caused, and in part because he wants to try to move on from Griffith now that NGriff has soundly rejected him, and in part because he’s longing for a piece of his happy past and that’s what Casca represents, and in part to atone for abandoning Griffith the first time, and in part because she’s his friend and comrade and he wants to help her.
So like, basically tl;dr I think they care about each other, but the romance aspect did end up being forced and I would’ve liked their relationship a lot more if they’d stayed platonic friends, and it probably would’ve been better for them too.
Also I headcanon them both as gay and repressed lol, and I think the story makes that fairly easy to do, which is nice.
i linked a few related posts under the cut if you happen to be interested
BLACK SWORDSMAN ARC BLACK SWORDSMAN ARC BLACK SWORDSMAN ARC
I want to see it animated so bad. I wish the 97 anime had done it, because honestly the style would’ve suited the subject so well, and also for vid purposes it would be so damn useful to have black swordsman and golden age all animated in the same style and not missing any super significant scenes (lookin at you, ovas).
also I want to see petty bitter ex femto animated, and i want to hear his voice.
The gang has to bail them out. Good thing Farnese is loaded. Actually, she’s the one who arranged for the trip. Lets say that in this au she’s famous for coming from the world’s oldest ‘old money’ and somebody recognizes her(her face ends up being in the tabloids the next day)
Oh and Serpico ends up coming back when its time to leave. Where he went? He won’t tell
lol the idea of famous heiress farnese and her extremely dubious friends is delightful
i’m kinda torn because i also like that aspect but it felt like the animators stopped just short of pointing a giant arrow at ngriff saying “this dude is evil, hate him” lol so overall the lack of subtlety wasn’t worth it imo
the first time i saw a gif of that moment i spent a few days assuming it was someone’s joke edit ngl, like not only is it completely ooc but it also just looks hilarious and ridiculous
anyway from what I saw of the hill of swords reunion in the anime they made griffith look sinisterly evil and kind of pissed off the whole time too so yeah, just add that to the long list of reasons the newer anime sucks
Judeau, Guts,and Griffith would go to the casinos. Judeau is a decent
gambler but Griffith, he’s like a god at it. He ends up pissing many
people off every a while since he keeps winning(they think he’s cheating
but he’s not) its safe to assume that a fight would prob break out.
Later on, they hit the bar, which isn’t really much of their
scenes(especially Guts) but after that brawl, they need a hard drink or
two. (2/3)
I wanna say that Judeau gets picked up by a girl at the bar/club. Girls
try to flirt with Guts and Griffith too, Guts just ignores them and
Griffith charmingly lets them down. I wanna be very self-indulgent and
say that they get drunk and wake up married to each other(very cliche
and unlikely to happen but still very cute.) The only way that could
happen is if Griffith is in one of his rare random moods to have
reckless fun n gets Guts to join in(somehow Idk. Guts doesnt like
getting drunk)
lol this is a modern au idea i never would’ve thought of. but i could absolutely see guts and griffith getting drunk and married in vegas.
i feel like serpico would either trail farnese or hit the nearest gay bar tho ngl
Judeau’s clear agenda in the back half of the Golden Age is hilarious to me because it’s like Miura couldn’t get Guts and Casca to fuck naturally, so he had to make it a side character’s sole mission in life to arrange their hook up.
But actually to be less cynical, I think it works very well with the overall tone and thematic takeaway from the Golden Age. Why was Judeau meddling? Well, it’s strongly suggested that it’s because he was in love with Casca himself, but didn’t consider himself worthy of her. He thought Guts would be better for her, and that Casca would be better off traveling with Guts than leading the remnants of the Hawks, so he shoved Guts at her until they boned.
And look how that turned out.
Moral of the Golden Age: tell people how you feel instead of just assuming you’re not good enough for them.
And like, something I really love about Judeau’s character is that he seems to fill that character trope of friend who gives good advice and lays out some of the story’s themes and nudges the protagonist in the right direction for the plot. But like everyone else in Berserk he’s more layered than that – he has his own reasons for saying the things he does and directing Guts the way he does, and those reasons are kind of based in low self esteem. He’s another factor that helps bring everyone to the Eclipse.
Sometimes he does give good advice, but sometimes he gives genuinely bad advice, because he’s biased.
And I think there’s a potential parallel between Judeau trying to set Guts and Casca up, and Guts trying to set Casca and Griffith up before he leaves. Guts feels unworthy of Griffith because he doesn’t have a dream, but Casca does, so he shoves her at Griffith to get her to take his place as his sword, but yk with added romance because heteronormativity.
It’s not unbiased-dude-trying-to-be-a-good-bro-for-his-friends advice, Judeau’s own issues are a factor in him trying to get Guts and Casca together.
Judeau feels unworthy of Casca because idk he’s insecure about being a jack of all trades, master of none lol, so he considers Guts, who is the best at least next to Griffith, more worthy of Casca and tries to get them together.
And in his dying moments, he knows he fucked up. That he should’ve just said something.
And yk what, he may think Guts is more worthy of Casca because he’s the best at something, but Guts was up on top of a giant hand trying to save Griffith long after that stopped making sense as a course of action while Judeau was down here trying to survive with Casca, and I think we all know who Casca appreciated more in this moment.
There’s something to be said for just being there with someone instead of leaving them in the snow/trying to convince a dude to sling her over his shoulder and run lol. Same with how Judeau was with Casca throughout the year of hiding and trying to survive while Guts was fucking off on his eat pray love vacation.
It wouldn’t surprise me if we’re meant to see Judeau/Casca as a tragic missed connection and the better alternative to Guts and Casca getting together.
(On a personal note I don’t actually like the idea of Judeau/Casca both bc it’s het lol but also since it’s just, yk, dude pines, wants the girl but meddles in her life for her own good, Casca’s feelings towards Judeau aren’t explored at all, etc. But the way Miura portrayed Judeau’s regret and his presence vs Guts’ absence makes me think that the takeaway is that in the best version of events Judeau would’ve told Casca how he felt and they would’ve got together. And thematically that fits imo.)
Also while I’m on this topic, I want to take yet another opportunity to point this great moment out:
hmmmmmmmmmmm
Judeau then immediately segues the conversation to the whole “Casca’s life sucks right now, you need to save her from it, etc” bit.
But I fucking love this moment specifically because it’s telling us that not only is Judeau overtly meddling to get Casca and Guts to hook up, but Judeau believes that Guts knowing how Griffith really feels about him will impede his plans.
And I mean it’s true, he wants Guts to leave with Casca and when Guts realizes how hard he fucked up and how much Griffith desperately needs him and always did he wants to stay. But it’s just such a nice touch to tell us that Guts and Casca… only work in the absence of Griffith. Guts gets with Casca when he falsely believes Griffith looks down on him. Guts chooses to stay with Griffith when he’s convinced he was wrong about that.
(And post-Eclipse, Guts abandons Casca for his revenge campaign, and chooses to stay with her when NeoGriffith says unequivocally that he’s over him now lol.)
It adds to the sense that Guts and Casca are both rebounding from Griffith, and they only work together as long as they both want to distance themselves from him. When he’s back in their life they get weird and jealous immediately, and then they both independently choose not to leave the Hawks together (Guts telling Judeau he wants to stay, followed by Casca telling Guts she can’t leave with him) and Casca tries to break up with him lol.
[insert more picspam here, we all know Guts is fixated]
let’s be real, it’s the hair.
Griffith’s favourite physical quality of Guts’:
I was gonna say something like his buff arms, or his strength in general, and I think that would also be a legit answer, but yk what I’m going with
I think I just wanna say Guts’ face in general. Like maybe this is just Miura failing to properly objectify his point of view manly man protagonist, but when he’s making Griffith’s heart flutter his heavy brows and intense focused stare tend to be pretty prominent.
Also I’d argue that Miura kind of emphasizes Guts’ rugged handsomeness this way during/after the rescue mission, when the love triangle’s rearranging itself to put Guts in the centre:
moreso than at any other point in the story. So yeah.
Guts’ favourite non-physical quality of Griffith’s:
Ok this one’s tricky because I want to say Griffith’s like, larger than lifeness. His respectability, leadership abilities, ambition, that whole package, because that’s what makes his attention that much more valuable to Guts. He doesn’t want just anyone’s attention, he wants Griffith’s attention, because Griffith is the coolest guy he knows lol.
But! Like the entire point of the Golden Age is Guts learning that he’s been prioritizing the wrong aspects of Griffith. And obviously I don’t think Guts only liked Griffith because of his image lol, just that Guts really valued that image because like… he wants to be admired by someone admirable.
But I’m also going to say Griffith’s playfulness, because there’s something there that grabbed Guts early on, not just something he admired but something he genuinely liked, and I always come back to the waterfight. Guts has never had a friend his own age before, and he’s never had a chance to be a kid in his life. The waterfight is I can only assume the first time Guts fought just for fun.
And despite all the smokescreens of status and admirability and godliness etc, at the end of the day they just genuinely like each other, they like hanging out and having fun together.
Maybe you can say it’s both in combination – the fact that he’s larger than life, but has this more human, real side of him that is reachable and that he can genuinely connect with. It’s what makes Griffith’s “superiority” something he loves and wants to live up to, rather than something he resents.
Idk.
Griffith’s favourite non-physical quality of Guts’:
His determination. Whether it’s used against him, like during their first duel (or post Eclipse), or to fight for him, or to protect him, I think Guts’ willingness to do anything in a fight makes him swoon. One reason he refuses to try to reign him in despite Casca complaining that Guts gets away with everything lol. And one reason his heart started beating while he watched him fight Zodd.
What do you think? I kind of just stuck really close to things basically stated in canon but I think there are better, and probably shippier/more fun answers lol. If you have alternative suggestions I want to hear them.
this take is completely legit but tbh i also think we cannot forget the fact that guts was practically obsessed with griffith’s beauty … not that his reaction to seeing griffith’s ruined face is all about his looks, but rather like, i think that works into what you said about guts seeing griffith as a regular human for the first time, since his beauty is one of the major things that makes people see him as otherworldly and godlike lol
but i just love the fact that it’s his face. it’s his beautiful, ruined face that does it for guts
lmao ngl after answering that question i immediately regretted not finishing my post with “actually scratch all that, guts nearly has a breakdown entirely because griffith’s hair is short now”
but for real yeah that actually is a legit aspect probably, because his looks are a big part of what makes him seem godlike and untouchable, and guts really did pay particular attention to yk his “dazzling” “beautiful” looks
((i wrote this in a sleep deprived fog, months ago, but i still think it pretty much holds))
berserk proves again and again how difficult it is to be “strong,” to be human. to face your fears, shit, even to just stay alive is a monumental task. the lure of power in a brutal hellscape such as midland would naturally be tempting. on the surface, it could be a tale about the price of wanton hedonism existing at the ends of sanity. i mean that’s not how i see it but it could easily be that, if you believe griffith is a rotten power-hungry shit. i don’t, obviously. but i understand it. berserk, at face value, is just like that to a degree. if you miss all the context clues and read it so fast you miss all the subtleties. this isn’t wild speculation either … it’s a very complex story, and at best it’s punctuated with incredible emotional scenes that don’t even need words. miura is a genius at conveying wordless emotion–again i think most people miss that though.
so i’ll start here; this is a simple canon concept.
guts abandoned everyone he cared for in pursuit of approval from one
person. griffith sacrifices the same people to escape his
feelings for one person.
what about them though? the
hawks were like a strange organic conduit, faithful fodder for both
of them. loyal lambs among two larger than life predators. they weren’t “important” enough for
either of them to spare, emotionally (in guts’ case) or physically
(griffith, obviously–though griffith’s reasoning is a lot more complex than this, and i’d argue that putting more [or less, for that matter] importance on their lives would be an insult–but more on that later.)
furthering this thought … guts truly abandons those who cared for him, he chooses
to let them down by leaving. his pursuit, in his mind, is noble … but
in actuality it is careless. when he returns, he’s given a lot of shit
for it too, and he should be. tell me to fuck off if you want but corkus has some of the best and eerily prophetic dialogue in berserk lol.
in griffith’s case, he goes through with
the sacrifice in order to NOT let down the people who gave their lives
for him. what are a few more people compared to the thousands before
them? what makes them so important other than them being named
characters? griffith knows it’d be insulting to the thousands of dead
who paid with their lives for him to spare just a few. it’s also very
possible that during the eclipse griffith is terrified and not even
fully aware of what’s happening (there is no precedent imo, even amongst
regular apostles, not in this lifetime at least) .. and it goes without
saying he is panicked, what withall the post-suicidal drama happening
around him. he breaks. i mean fuck, look how scared he is …
he tries to save guts cause he really doesn’t want to be alone, and he doesn’t want guts to die.
godhand
knows exactly how fragile griffith is, and they absolutely take advantage of it.
it was fated after all, he didn’t stand a chance. the godhand had been manipulating things
around him his entire life for this exact moment, waiting around like vultures for his relentless human emotions to break him. they are fucking salivating over this, it’s pretty grotesque honestly. they’ve got that ace in the hole guilt card, and griffith can’t possibly fight with their reasoning and accusations.
it’s
really no wonder he has no love for the godhand. he was guaranteed
absolution and freedom from his turmoil. i imagine he’s very bitter
about this, and rightfully so–he gave up everything within his power to
rid himself of these damned feelings. (though honestly, i’m sure he’s
glad guts is still alive … especially now that he’s had a LOT of
distance and isn’t reacting to mind-breaking shit).
* * *
i’d like to write about my very complex feelings about the nature of
femto soon but there’s still too much ambiguity in my mind to feel
comfortable speaking on it with any authority. i’d speak with a big
question mark attached, if anything. femto confounds me. he was written
so brutal and ruthlessly, it doesn’t match up with griffith’s nature at all, imo. i mean, yeah, it makes sense given the conditions–nobody minus their humanity and
under the influence of demonkind can or should be held to any kind of
human standard, by design. and i realize miura had two boners here, one for over-sexualizing casca in an already horrifying situation, and one for shock value, and both of these boners are regretful and abhorrent. man, fuck miura for all of that. i hope casca comes back with vengeance on her tongue and destroys everyone, our boys included.
i’ll save that whole bag of fucking snakes for another time
tho lol.
you're the only one 